Boeing F3B-4 USN Biplane Fighter

[tgycgijoes]

The Complete VF1B Squadron F8C-4

Well not technically but as close as I can get. Mick informed me that this F8C-4 is actually an O2C because of the cowl that was added after they were retired from active USN service into the USNR and USMC. Since that's all there is and "there ain't no mo' " I am using these because they are a really nice aircraft. Even the Helldivers movie used some O2C's when you closely watch them recovering aboard the SARA CV-3 off Point Loma after flying off from San Diego NAS.

There is also a reference in 1930's Navy painting instructions that active duty USN aircraft were not in bare metal finish because of problems at sea so they were painted in a silver-gray. I have after some efforts accomplished the overcoat of silver-gray paint onto the original repaints. Mick Morrisey graciously uploaded the six section leaders repaints to the Warbirds Library here which I downloaded last night when he made me aware of them. Here are the first results:

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[tgycgijoes]

Phooey!!!Double Phooey!!!

Well....I'm disgusted.....I just finished TRYING to land on the USS Saratoga CV-3 that Paul Clawson did though it is only scenery not an ai carrier. According to here at SOH and also FSDevelopers, if you have tailhook information in the aircraft.cfg even though you don't have a physical tailhook in the model it is supposed to arrest the aircraft on the carrier deck. I'm afraid it doesn't happen. I tried it on two other carriers from ai carriers as well. The F8C/O2C does not have a physical tailhook to catch the wire. RCBCO-30 shows it has no tailhook with a red light. As you careen through the parked aircraft forward it is apparent that you have no tailhook. Phooey!!!!! Why anyone would design a carrier aircraft with no tailhook is I'm afraid beyond me. I should have tested it first before I spent a lot of time on beautiful repaints. I am moving on to the F4B4 that Paul Clawson designed a tailhook into the model. The F8C aircraft has two strikes IMHO: the cowl and no tailhook. Just fly the aircraft on and off an NAS not a carrier. Iasked if a tailhook could be designed into the model but was told that the original model unfortunately is gone forever so no dice. I am going to stop posting here and start a new thread after I have done some work on the F4B4 and certainly after I test the original with some carrier landings. (Moe, Larry, Curly and me)

 

[Mike71]

Well....I'm disgusted.....I just finished TRYING to land on the USS Saratoga CV-3 that Paul Clawson did though it is only scenery not an ai carrier. According to here at SOH and also FSDevelopers, if you have tailhook information in the aircraft.cfg even though you don't have a physical tailhook in the model it is supposed to arrest the aircraft on the carrier deck. I'm afraid it doesn't happen. I tried it on two other carriers from ai carriers as well. The F8C/O2C does not have a physical tailhook to catch the wire. RCBCO-30 shows it has no tailhook with a red light. As you careen through the parked aircraft forward it is apparent that you have no tailhook. Phooey!!!!! Why anyone would design a carrier aircraft with no tailhook is I'm afraid beyond me. I should have tested it first before I spent a lot of time on beautiful repaints. I am moving on to the F4B4 that Paul Clawson designed a tailhook into the model. The F8C aircraft has two strikes IMHO: the cowl and no tailhook. Just fly the aircraft on and off an NAS not a carrier. Iasked if a tailhook could be designed into the model but was told that the original model unfortunately is gone forever so no dice. I am going to stop posting here and start a new thread after I have done some work on the F4B4 and certainly after I test the original with some carrier landings. (Moe, Larry, Curly and me)

Maybe a dumb question, but does the aircraft.cfg have a tailhook section anywhere?

 

[tgycgijoes]

Aircraft cfg and tailhook section

in a post from 2017, vmag17 gave me and everyone else there the solution.

The problem is in the Aircraft.cfg entry - [hydraulic_system] - where the "normal_pressure" is set to "0.0".

Hydraulic pressure is required for raising or lowering the Tail Hook on all AC.

Just modify the entry to - for example "normal_pressure = 1050.0" (units in PSI) and the Tail Hook should work.

Every one of these 3 birds had 0.0 normal_pressure in the hydraulic system. As soon as I corrected this, voila success. Now the F4B4's have to be airborne and running before they will deploy their visible hooks but the invisible hook on the F8C still deploys as evidenced by the rcbco-30 gauge in the cockpit.

This is a good end to the day, 21:49 here. Tomorrow I will go back to working on the F8C's and youse guys who sent me PM's, I will be sharing my files here in the Warbird Library when I have completed them and tested to be sure everything works properly. This is honestly an answer to a prayer of a very frustrated guy before. Thank you Lord for small favors.

 

[Mike71]

Glad you found this out.

Interesting, because on real Navy aircraft, the hook is only raised by hydraulic pressure. It can free fall down once unlatched. However, it does need a hydraulic "snubber" pressure (like a shock absorber) to hold it down and keep it from bouncing once contact is made with the deck, otherwise "hook skips" and bolters occur.

The assumption may have been by the original modeler that the plane had no hydraulic system. Some old Navy planes did have to have the hook manually raised and latched by the flight deck crew.

 

[TARPSBird]

With the Curtiss F8C I was unable to catch a wire on Yanco's USS Enterprise (CV-6) even after adjusting the hydraulic pressure value. That was with A.F. Scrub's FSX update... Then I tried the more recent Michael Pook FSX update and I trapped OK, although I again had to adjust the hydraulic pressure. I always figured if the aircraft had a [tailhook] section with correct values in the .cfg file that's all you needed to get aboard. Nice to learn something new!

 

[gray eagle]

in a post from 2017, vmag17 gave me and everyone else there the solution.

The problem is in the Aircraft.cfg entry - [hydraulic_system] - where the "normal_pressure" is set to "0.0".

Hydraulic pressure is required for raising or lowering the Tail Hook on all AC.

Just modify the entry to - for example "normal_pressure = 1050.0" (units in PSI) and the Tail Hook should work.

Every one of these 3 birds had 0.0 normal_pressure in the hydraulic system. As soon as I corrected this, voila success. Now the F4B4's have to be airborne and running before they will deploy their visible hooks but the invisible hook on the F8C still deploys as evidenced by the rcbco-30 gauge in the cockpit.

This is a good end to the day, 21:49 here. Tomorrow I will go back to working on the F8C's and youse guys who sent me PM's, I will be sharing my files here in the Warbird Library when I have completed them and tested to be sure everything works properly. This is honestly an answer to a prayer of a very frustrated guy before. Thank you Lord for small favors.

That is good news. Hopefully, your carrier traps will be successful.

 

[dhasdell]

on real Navy aircraft, the hook is only raised by hydraulic pressure. It can free fall down once unlatched

I seem to remember a rather nice FS9/CFS2 Sea Hurricane where this was replicated. You could drop the hook but it wouldn't retract again without starting a new flight.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Bottom quote

I seem to remember a rather nice FS9/CFS2 Sea Hurricane where this was replicated. You could drop the hook but it wouldn't retract again without starting a new flight.

I like your quote at the bottom which expresses my sentiments so often: Why won't things work right the first time!

 

[tgycgijoes]

The First Section Repaints Uploaded in the Warbirds Library

Just finished uploading the first of six sections of repaints I've completed for the Curtiss F8C/O2C. Any comments PM me or post here.

Continuing in the paint shed all afternoon and evening, I have completed 5 of the 6 sections. I will test them out tomorrow afternoon or Monday before I upload. I also want to fly this thing on MY computer and trap even though rcbco-30 says I have a"hook".

 

[stoney]

Gee, those are really great tgycgijoes! Many thanks from a Yellow Wings Navy enthusiast.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Hydraulics

Gee, those are really great tgycgijoes! Many thanks from a Yellow Wings Navy enthusiast.

You are very welcome...don't forget to update the hydraulics in the aircraft.cfg as instructed above so that your invisible tailhook is functional for carrier traps.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Hoping For A CV-3 Saratoga

I found the CV-3 scenery but it has a "hole" in the deck right where the arresting cables are so when touchdown you go through the deck. I was able to catch a wire on the USS Lexington CV_16 so the hook does work for me too with Michael Pook's updated F8C-4 flies nice too.

Off to evening services so I will update a few more sections and post them later tonight.

 

[Butcherbird17]

You do know that you can use CV2 Uss Lexington from the FSX Yanco Coral Sea package and just repaint the deck numbers for Saratoga .
Then you can use either AiCarriers or setup a route around Panama with AIBTC and this way you have a moving flight deck.

Joe

 

[tgycgijoes]

I didn't know that

You do know that you can use CV2 Uss Lexington from the FSX Yanco Coral Sea package and just repaint the deck numbers for Saratoga .
Then you can use either AiCarriers or setup a route around Panama with AIBTC and this way you have a moving flight deck.

Joe

Thanks Joe I will go do that right now. I have that package on a flash drive in the bag.

I have been using USS Enterprise CV-6 just to have a straight deck carrier and just made three 3 wire traps. I have Vertigo Studios CV-6 on my wish list and if I understand the manual correctly their "batman" their name for "Paddles" will work in any aircraft any carrier because he"s a gauge. That would be really cool. If anyone has that carrier give a heads-up here if I am right please.

 

[Mike71]

You do know that you can use CV2 Uss Lexington from the FSX Yanco Coral Sea package and just repaint the deck numbers for Saratoga .
Then you can use either AiCarriers or setup a route around Panama with AIBTC and this way you have a moving flight deck.

Joe

Dont' forget to paint the vertical black stripe on the stack as well - distinguishing feature of CV-3 from CV-2 at a distance.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Got the stack

Dont' forget to paint the vertical black stripe on the stack as well - distinguishing feature of CV-3 from CV-2 at a distance.

Thank you, I would have forgotten. I am going to try and recolor the flightdeck from the deck blue stain to the original mahogany and yellow stripes and SARA on the stern. Since this is like a repaint not a model change I think I can share it. I have the Paul Clawson scenery SARA for an example. Saratoga was at the Battle Of Midway and I was hoping it was in Yanco-san's Midway ship collection but no such luck, just Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown. Anyone know where to get a flush-deck ai destroyer, all of Yanco-san's are newer tincans.

 

[Butcherbird17]

She's not in the package because she wasn't at Midway. She had been hit with a torpedo a few weeks after a mission
to relieve Wake island and was in for repairs at the time of Midway. Her next action was in the early stages of the
Guadalcanal campaign and seen action in the Eastern Solomon's before being hit again with a torpedo making the
Enterprise the only carrier in the area.

Check here in the library and over at SimV. There is the USS Cole which is a 4 stacker destroyer that was converted
from cfs2 to FSX that might fit the bill

Joe

 

[TARPSBird]

tgycgijoes,
Lazarus put together a package of Clemson class 4-stacker DD's. I can't find them here in the SOH library but if you'll PM me your email address I'll be happy to send you the zip file.

 

[Butcherbird17]

The USS Cole can be found over at SimV on page 25 in the FSX Misc section. I also found a 1932 config of Saratoga here in the library
in the cfs2 section from Usio. It is a very nice model but will need converted to use in FSX.

Joe